Misfits (RWBY AU)
by Iandude
Summary: When Jaune's forged transcripts are rejected from Beacon, the blonde chooses what he considers the next best thing: the Atlesian military. Little does he know that the world he chooses to enter would have consequences he could never have foreseen. Assigned to a group of fellow huntsman Academy outcasts, they make up the Misfit squad.
1. Prologue: Not All Heroes

Misfits (RWBY AU)

 _The history of Remnant has always been rooted in war. Whether it was war against the Grimm or each other, humanity in Remnant has always been one that has prized fighting and warfare. Only recently has this been in decline, requiring a man to unite the world first under and then against him to change their view. In the present, militaries have become a thing of the past, being replaced by Huntsmen and Huntresses. The army had been almost universally replaced with the Hero, so easily forgetting that many of the greatest heroes of old had once been soldiers themselves._

 _In all places but one._

On an airship traveling to that place, a certain blonde doofus was busily emptying his bowels and cursing his own existence. This child, only just very close to seventeen, had finally decided to leave his home and family.

Not that it had been too hard. His mother and father had simply nodded at the lies he spun, how he had gotten accepted into a business school around Atlas that was allowing him to move in this semester, simply to continue talking about how his sister had gotten accepted to Signal.

It grated at him to have been ignored, but it was something Jaune Arc had grown rather used to over the past years. His parents were huntsmen, and had always wanted huntsmen children. When he had shown little talent in combat, they tried to mollify him, telling him that the world was a big place and that there were other things a normal person could do.

Like become a farmer. When those words exited their mouths, he had shut them out mentally, seething at the fact that they believed he would have so little skill that all he could do was be farmer! It was like they didn't even know that almost all of those things were mechanized now due to advances in the field (or at least, that was what his science teacher had said).

And then they started to train his sister. Unlike him, she had shown all of the talent he had lacked. Soon enough, she had commanded all of their attention. They personally trained her and taught her everything they knew, taking more and more time into the day to focus on her than they ever had on him.

Not that he hated his sister, jealousy aside, he loved her and his other six siblings with every fiber of his being though on worse days he had trouble facing her without a subtle bit of irritation buzzing in the back of his head.

For no matter how hard any of them tried to hide it, they were all disappointed in him.

In an effort to make himself something they could be proud of, he had done unscrupulous things. He lied and cheated until he had finally managed to get his hands on transcripts that could carry him to Beacon. If he could graduate from the best school to train hunters, then surely no one could question his eligibility to be one right?

He cried himself to sleep the day he received a rejection letter. It was accompanied by a note sent from Ozpin, it stated that while the resourcefulness, determination and cunning it took to acquire such transcripts was admirable, it did not change the fact that such documents were faked and thus invalid. The only bright spot within that was that Ozpin had told him it would be recorded as a normal rejection, not one due to dishonorable means because he was impressed by the fact that what he received had been able to fool everyone but him.

It was a small comfort, but one nonetheless. In the week following, he had almost relegated himself to the fate his parents had proscribed him, looking into more normal jobs and positions. He almost decided upon a business school to enter before something his history teacher had once said in lecture caught his attention for once.

"Many of the greatest heroes and villains from your stories were either outliers or had gained training in a military establishment or army. Chief among these was of course, the man who ran the Greyscale regime, but many of those who fought him were once the very soldiers he relied upon. For example..."

Of course, this was followed by a very dry explanation of the color war, and how the people in there championed the freedoms by doing certain acts of protest, but the opening sentence had piqued his interest.

It didn't take long for him to look into the standards for the last remaining army in Remnant, and to submit an application to enter the serve. Soon enough he received a message of acceptance, detailing where and when he needed to arrive to join up for basic training.

And that brought him here, for a moment just a kid sick of flying. No expectations to restrict him, all tension about what was to come an afterthought compared to the sensation of his lunch leaving his body and the little part of his mind telling him that he was a failure lost in a corner probably laughing at the state of the child before him.

But, as he finally managed to collect himself, it didn't matter any more.

He knew that he wasn't good enough to be a huntsman. He understood that trying to do this might be doomed to failure, but he had to try. He had to show the world that he could be the person they always told him they should be.

He was Jaune Arc, and just because he wasn't a hunter didn't mean he couldn't be a hero.

hat he swore to himself as the airship finally docked in Atlas, causing his motion sickness to spike again.

Well, he'd be a hero when he stopped throwing up.

 **A/N: This was an idea that got in my head with everyone speaking of the soldiers and military in volume 3. It is meant to show how I think such an establishment would function in a world like that of Remnant. I hope you all enjoyed the prologue and are ready to join me in this wild ride! **This will be very OC intensive, you have been warned.****


	2. Chapter one: Arrival

Chapter one: Arrival

Soon enough the airship's doors opened, letting out the nauseous blonde to pursue the nearest garbage container. After about five minutes later, he had managed to stop spewing bile and actually managed to look at his surroundings.

It wasn't long before he came to the conclusion that the entire place was... quiet. It didn't have the background noise that a more metropolitan part of the kingdoms would have. Instead the military base that would serve as his home for the next few months, Verdant Knoll, was relatively quiet, and almost peaceful in a way with the expanse of nature around him juxtaposed by the pristine whitish-gray structures dotting the area. He watched as a group of soldiers boarded the very ship he had just hastily retreated from, likely celebrating a day off if the lack of armor denoted anything.

He was wondering where to go when a loud noise interrupted his train of thought.

"All new recruits make your way to the central building within the next ten minutes to receive orientation. I repeat, all new recruits make your way to the central building within the next ten minutes to receive orientation."

Jaune started on the path to the specified structure, only to lose his footing when something dashed past him. As he fell, he saw hints of purple before his face met the ground. Taking a few seconds to gather himself again, he managed to catch a glimpse of purple as his accidental assailant slowly disappeared from his sight. Soon enough he was following the same trail, and within minutes made it to the entrance of the specified building.

The structure itself was huge, with a crowd of around two hundred steadily filing it's way in. As Jaune managed to make his way into the empty hall, he observed the people around him. Made of human and faunus, male and female, young and old in a bevy of colors that would have almost hurt his eyes normally.

 _'I guess what they said about the army accepting everyone wasn't a joke.'_ He mused as a figure in the standard armor came up to the podium.

He coughed into the mic a bit to get everyone's attention before speaking, "Excuse me everyone, normally we have one of our ranking officers do this, but today we have a very special guest in attendance who would like to give a few words to you all. So today I have the honor of welcoming our very own General Ironwood to the stage."

The soldier walked away from the microphone then and dropped into parade rest. As he did that, the General walked out onto the stage, greeted by a smattering of applause and cheers from the various people in the room, Jaune included. He waited at the microphone for a few seconds as the applause died down, and then he began to speak.

"Good afternoon everyone. I would like to start off by saying that it is my honor and privilege to welcome you all to the Atlesian military. I'm always proud to see the variety of people who all decided to pursue a career in defending the kingdom from those that would attempt to destroy us. Now I know many of you are here for different reasons. Some of you do simply want to do your best to help others and this was your route to doing so. Many other ones desire the steady income that comes with being in the military. Others are here simply because they see an opportunity to become something greater than they could have been normally. Some of you may even be here because you feel you have no other choice. Yet no matter why you are here I will tell you this: from this point on, you are not alone. Every one of you here are all comrades in arms, whether you are young or old, experienced or green, human or faunus. I see a group of people that will achieve tremendous goals, all the while becoming something great alongside each other.' A few cheers came out after that, and the general held up a hand, with a grim look on his face. "But know this: you are not hunters. You are not the people that others will heap praise upon simply for doing your jobs. Not only that, but the recent history of war has cast a shadow upon our institution, quite understandably. You will protect the people, and many will watch you with wary eyes while you do, expecting the worst. But this is where we shall show them we are people who want to help them, no matter how much they believe otherwise. For at the heart of any organization is its people, and when I look out into this crowd is see a force for good. I hope from the bottom of my heart that you will all prove me right. So good luck, and welcome to the army."

At that, he turned around and left to a thunderous applause, and the soldier from before came back up to talk once more.

"I would like to give my sincere welcome to all of you as well. Now, your room and squad assignments will be posted up on the wall shortly going alphabetically from your left to right. After that, go to you where the board details."

After the man finished, projectors came on to display the proper assignments. It didn't take long for Jaune to find his name on the list. He looked at the screen to see where exactly he needed to go.

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Squad 21**

 **Barracks 3, room 1**

After double checking to make sure, the blonde went with the large stream of people heading towards what he could only assume was the barracks. After getting turned around and lost for a good ten minutes, he managed to find barracks 3. The building itself was all white, with a sitting room in front that was currently unoccupied. Soon after, he entered room one to be greeted by a small place, with ten cots taking up a majority of the area. As Jaune entered the room, he looked around to find seven people already there. The most apparent was a large man with brown locks who seemed to be a faunus if the bear ears were any indication. Next was slight woman with a shock of bleached white hair and who was standing nest to a scarred man with a shaved head. On the other side of them was a man with russet hair and a bored expression on his face next to a somewhat scrawny woman with sand-colored hair. The last two were both women who seemed almost directly contrasting. One was a taller girl with darker orange hair while the one next to her was much shorter with light violet hair. All of them were about his age. He nodded to them while he took his bag and claimed the sleeping place on the opposite side of the faunus as his own. After he sat down, the door opened to admit a larger man with dark green hair. He closed the door before looking at the various residents there. After sizing them all up, he nodded and started to speak.

"Hello cadets, my name is Alexander Laurel and I will be your commanding officer until further notice. Welcome to squad 21, the Misfits."

 **A/N Here's another chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it!**


End file.
